Names of Nazi victims crossed out with black marker from plaque in France
Jewish umbrella group CRIF said that 'to wipe off the names of victims of Nazi barbarity is to wipe off a part of history'
Around half of the names of Nazi victims commemorated on a plaque in south western France were crossed out with black marker, local media reported.
According to broadcaster France Bleu, the graffiti was discovered in Lyon on Monday morning and removed by local authorities in the afternoon.
The plaque, installed in Lyon 2011, pays tribute to the 86 Jewish victims arrested on Sainte-Catherine road on February 9, 1943.
Of the 80 who were deported to death camps, only three survived.
The city’s mayor Gerard Collomb expressed his shock on social media on Monday.
“My Lyon is the one that is the capital city of the resistance. To see defiled in this way, the commemorative plaque on Sainte Catherine road and the memory of Nazi victims is an insult and blow to every Lyonnais [local resident],” he tweeted in French.
Mon Lyon c’est celui de la capitale de la résistance. Voir ainsi souillée la plaque commémorative de la rue Sainte-Catherine et la mémoire des victimes du nazisme est une insulte et un coup porté à chaque lyonnais. Nous effacerons au plus vite les traces de cette infamie. pic.twitter.com/tBWuEwopiZ
— Gérard Collomb (@gerardcollomb) October 21, 2019
France’s Jewish umbrella group CRIF condemned the incident, writing in French on Tuesday: “To wipe off the names of victims of Nazi barbarity is to wipe off a part of history.
“It’s unacceptable and we are waiting for the cowardly authors of this offence to be severely punished by justice.”
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